Despite Two Million Participants in Yesterday’s March, Hong Kong Government Has Yet to Withdraw Extradition Bill

YESTERDAY’S MARCH against the Beijing-backed extradition bill pushed for by the Hong Kong government ended without major incident, with over two million residents of Hong Kong taking to the streets by the time of the demonstration’s end. This would make yesterday’s march the largest demonstration in the history of Hong Kong, perhaps marking a high point for politicization by Hong Kong residents. If over two million demonstrators participated in the march, this would mean that two out of seven residents of Hong Kong, close to 30% of Hong Kong’s population, participated.

After the official end to the march was called at 11 PM by the Civil Human Rights Front, the main organizer of the demonstration and last week’s demonstration, many demonstrators remained active well past midnight and into the late night, refusing to leave until the extradition bill is fully withdrawn and Carrie Lam resigns.

It was possible that demonstrators who refused to leave would attempt direct action and this would see police reprisal, provoking public outrage. By 6 AM, however, reportedly only several hundred demonstrators remained on Harcourt Road in front of central government headquarters.

Flowers piled up in memorial for Leung, the man that fell to his death yesterday. Photo credit: Demosisto

Even if the bill is withdrawn, it is likely that Hong Kongers will continue to demand Lam’s resignation. Yet this raises issues about whether alternatives to Lam could be worse—after all, the Hong Kong Chief Executive is not chosen by the direct vote of the Hong Kong public, but by members of a 1,200 member election committee whose constitution slants toward the pro-Beijing camp. That being said, however, it is unlikely a general strike will genuinely take place in Hong Kong, given the short notice with which it was announced.

It may be that the Hong Kong government still intends to wait it out, with the hope of outlasting protests. At the same time, with close to 30% of Hong Kong residents demonstrating yesterday, mass protests can continue to be expected—and, in fact, as remarkable as it would be, with so much of the Hong Kong public already mobilized, they might even continue to increase in size. With record-breaking protests taking place on last Sunday and this Sunday, large-scale Sunday demonstrations may simply become a regular event until the bill is withdrawn.

To this extent, while the size of the current set of protests seem to imply that demonstrators have already won, some caution may still be needed. Some have suggested that, as Beijing’s lead proxy in Hong Kong, in backing down from efforts to pass the extradition bill and apologizing, Lam has handed Chinese president Xi Jinping a defeat. But If the Hong Kong government simply refuses to back down, it is still possible that force will ultimately be used to put down the demonstrations.

Demonstrations against the extradition bill in Hong Kong and the strong response in support of Hong Kong in Taiwan has already exerted a strong effect on 2020 presidential elections. KMT presidential aspirants such as Han Kuo-yu, Terry Gou, and Eric Chu have noticeably backed away from previous comments calling for closer cross-strait relations with China.

As such, at the very least, demonstrations in Hong Kong have had an effect in Taiwan. Nevertheless, it is also worth noting that despite talk from pan-Green politicians of the need for Taiwan to aid Hong Kong, few concrete action plans have yet been put forward by politicians, such as taking legal measures to allow Hong Kong asylum seekers to flee to Taiwan if they need to escape deteriorating political conditions in Hong Kong. Whether this is all talk or whether such talk will be followed up with action is still to be seen.

Brian Hioe was one of the founding editors of New Bloom. He is a freelance writer on social movements and politics, and occasional translator. A New York native and Taiwanese-American, he has an MA in East Asian Languages and Cultures from Columbia University and graduated from New York University with majors in History, East Asian Studies, and English Literature. He was Democracy and Human Rights Service Fellow at the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy from 2017 to 2018.

Alex Yun is a photographer, podcast producer and writer currently residing in Hong Kong. She is one of the co-founders of the Procyon Podcast Network, a podcast network dedicated to producing diverse and inclusive sci-fi.